Marine condenser installation



- INVE N TOR 1 JOHN w. McNuL-TY.

ATTORNEY J. W. McNULTY MARINE CONDENSER INSTALLATION Filed Jan. 13, 1942 lbllllllllilllllVl IIIIHII IHIH Aug. 1, 1944.

mull, [[Hlllll LLLL llll iiiiuli IHIIIIAI Patented Aug. 1, 1944 MARINE Q D R NS' EAL A IQN John W'. McNulty, Ridley Park, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing-"Conipany, East Pittsburgh, Pa a'corpor'a t ion of Pennsylvania Application January 13, 1942, Serial No. 426,595

4 Claims.

This, invention relates to marine condenser installations, more particularly to installations which include a scoop for circulating sea water through the condenser, and has'for an object to provide improved apparatus of this type.

Heretoforescoops of the velocity-pressure conversion type have been used to supply condensing water to the condensers of ships. It has been general practice to locate the scoop at the bottom of the ships hull, which has proved to be satisfactory when the ship is operating in deep water, but when operating in shallow water this arrangement is subject to the objection that mud and debris is scopped up from the bottom of the channel and delivered to the condenser, where it collects on the tubes, and thermally insulates and sometimes clogs them. In some instances the scoop itself may become clogged by such debris. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an installation which eliminates these.

faults.

A further object is to provide aninstallation of this type wherein the scoop serves as the overboard discharge when traveling astern.

A still further object is to provide an installa-, tion of this type wherein, when traveling ahead, condensing water is forced through the condenser in one direction, and when traveling astern, is forced through the condenser in the opposite direction, thereby flushing the tube plates.

Another object of the invention is to provide a scoop type condenser having means for difiusing the velocity of the cooling water before it enters the tubes, thereby reducing tube erosion,

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a cooling water circulation system for marine condensers which system includes a scoop for ahead operation and a pump for astern and maneuvering operation, which pump can be excluded from the system when not in use, thereby reducing friction losses.

These and other objects are effected by the invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view of the condenser installation with parts broken awa for the purpose of illustration;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line II-II of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a view on the line IIIIII of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and,

Fig. 4 is a top plan view similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating a modification.

Referring now to the drawing more'in detail,

there shown, at I 0, a marine condenser dis;

Posed a hwa l ship cp ii i h l ll havirig an exhaust steam inlet opemngl2. at the" top thereof and a nest of tubes [3 extendinglongp tudinally therein and having their terminal per: tions mounted in and supported by tube plates I5 and [6, the latter serving to close the ends of the shell. Water boxes II and [8 are associated with the tube plates [5 and I6, respectively, and serve to supply circulating water to the tubes 13, Sea water is supplied to the water box I1; by means of the trunl; conduit 20 extending from a conventional 5009p 2|, located in the side of; the

, vessel, the trunk tube extending through the wa ter box l8 and the nest of tubes I3 and terminat ing in a lantern valve 22 positioned in the water box I l. The valve 22 is of conventional construco om si a plurality o Qn ud y-e tending slots located circumferentially of thetrunk tube 20,, and a sleeve 24 surrounding the slotted por i n o t e. run ube and v de with corresponding slots 25 so disposed as to overlie and be aligned with theslots 23 in one position of the valve, and in another position of the valve, to be aligned with the solid portions separating the slots 23 ofthe trunk tube 20, to close the valve. Suitable means are provided for op, erating the valve and may comprise a gear 21 mounted at one end of the sleeve 24, a gear 28 meshing with the gear 21 and carried by a shaft 29 extending through the water box I! and provided at its outer end with suitable means, such as the hand wheel 30, for manual operation of the valve.

It should be noted that the provision of this lantern valve within the water box I! provides for ample difiusion of the water entering the box from the valve with the result that erosion of the inlet ends of the tubes I3 is reduced to a minimum.

After passing through the tubes l3, the circulating water is discharged from the water box l8 through the overboard discharge 33 and the interconnecting conduit 32. Preferably, the overboard discharge 33, as well as the scoop 2 I, is located at the side of the vessel rather than ad jacent the bottom thereof as has been the general practice heretofore.

When the vessel is operating at cruising speeds,

rows, this bein accomplished by the provision of a circulating pump 35 having its inlet connected to the water box I'l by a conduit 36 and its discharge connected to the lantern valve 22 by a conduit 31. With the pump in operation, water enters through the overboard discharge 32, passes through the water boxl8, the tubes 13,

the water box [1, and conduit 36, to the pump 35 where it is discharged through the conduit 31, the lantern valve 22 which is closed, the trunk conduit 20 and the scoop 2|.

between the first conduit and the second waterbox, to place the first conduit in communication with the second waterbox by means of the fourth The conduits 2o, 32, as, and 31' are provided a with valves 40, 4 l 42, and 43, respectively. While the vessel is cruising, the valves 42 and 43 are closed, thereby segregating the pump from the circulating system with the result that friction losses resulting from flow of water through the idle pump, are avoided.

In Fig. 4, there is illustrated a construction involving a slight modification of that previously described in that the pump 35a is arranged with its inletin communication with the conduit 31 and its outlet in communication with the conduit 36 with the result thatwhen the ship is maneuvering, with the pump in operation and the lantern-valve closed, the flow of water will be as indicated by the dotted arrows which is the same direction as when cruising and is illustrated by the solid-line arrows of Fig. 1.

While the invention has been shown in several forms, it will be obvious to those skilled'in the art that it is not So limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof; and it is desired, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1; In a surface condenser for a marine propulsion plant, a shall; a nest of tubes within the shell; first and'second waterboxes at the ends ofthe shell and with which the ends of the tubes communicate; a first conduit traversing at least the second waterbox; a second or inlet conduit provided with an inlet scoop; athird or discharge conduit; one of said second andthird conduits being connected to one end of the first conduit and the other thereof being connected to the first waterbox; a. fourth conduit connecting the other endof the first conduit to the second waterbox; a pump disposed in the fourth conduit; a valve within the second waterbox and operative to place the first conduit in communication with the conduit and the pump. a 2 In a surface condenser for a marine propulsion power plant, a shell; a nest of tubes within the shell; first and second waterboxes at the ends of the shell and with which the ends of the tubes communicate; a first conduit traversing the shell and the waterboxes and having terminal portions extending beyond the latter; asecond or inlet conduit'provided with a scoop; a third or discharge conduit; one of said second and third conduits being connected to the terminal portion of the first conduit traversing the first waterbox and the other thereof being connectedto the first water- O a fourth conduit connected to' the first conduit terminal portion traversing the second waterbox; a pump disposed in the fourth conduit; a valve within the second waterbox and operative to place the first conduit in communication with the latter or to interrupt such communication: and valves arranged in the fourth conduit, disposed at the suction and discharge sides of the pump, and operative, when closed and with said first valve operated to place said first conduit in communication with the second waterbox, to iso-.

late the pump from the first conduit and the second waterbox and operative, when open and with the first valve operative to interrupt communication between the first conduit and the second waterbox, to place the first conduit in communi-.

cation with the second waterbox by means of the fourth conduit and the pump.

3. Structure as specified in claim 2, wherein said second or-inlet conduit is connected to the terminal portion of the first conduittraversing,

the first waterbox and the third or discharge conduit is connected to the first waterbox.

4. Structure as specified in claim 1, including. 

